


A Day of Firsts

by Artemis1000



Category: Original Work
Genre: Apes & Monkeys, F/F, Treat
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-27
Updated: 2017-08-27
Packaged: 2018-12-09 09:00:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,587
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11665884
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Artemis1000/pseuds/Artemis1000
Summary: It's a special day at the primate shelter, with primatologists Luyinda and Irène taking the young chimpanzee Blue into the forest for her first real climbing session. But this is a day of firsts, not only for Blue.





	A Day of Firsts

**Author's Note:**

  * For [sweetcarolanne](https://archiveofourown.org/users/sweetcarolanne/gifts).



“Careful now, sweetheart, we’ve got time,” Irène cooed, carefully shifting the little chimpanzee in her arms so she had a better grip on her. On her bare forearms, her dark skin bore quite a few scratches and nicks where apes had clung to her a little too tightly, but she had never been one to mind a scratch or two. It came with caring for wild animals.

Blue was a strong little girl and did just fine holding on to Irène on her own most of the time, but it was hard to shake off the fear she might fall and hurt herself, so she kept a hand on her till she was certain her hold was steady.

“She likes you.”

Irène turned to find Luyinda watching her, her clothes rumpled from having helped with heavy lifting, her eyes bright. She flashed her a little grin.

Dr. Luyinda Mukendi had been studying chimpanzees in the wild before she joined their primate shelter. When Irène had heard of a new program hiring to prepare rescued chimpanzees for a return to the wild, she had never expected to get so much as an interview. She’d been fresh out of the Université de Kisangani with her biology degree, and the odds had been stacked against her like they had been for every step of her career, but working with chimpanzees had been a childhood dream suddenly within reach. Now, two years later, here she was, with the primate shelter a second home to her.

“She does.” Irène ran her hand over the little chimp’s head, and smiled at the happy noises she was rewarded with. The young chimp moved from clinging to her neck to crawling onto her back, and attached herself there firmly, already used to the daily trip into the forest. “She’s eager to get out there. I think she senses that today is special…” Her grin turned sheepish, “or how nervous I am.”

They had been taking them out every day for several weeks now, getting the group used to the noises and smells of the rain forest and the soft soil under their feet, but so far they hadn’t yet let them climb high into the trees. Once they started climbing their caretakers would no longer be able to keep up or get them down till they were ready to come down on their own. They had to be certain they were ready.

Their eyes met, an unspoken question in Irène’s gaze. Luyinda’s gaze softened, a smile spreading on her lips. Irène lowered her dark eyes first, biting on her bottom lip to hide the silly grin threatening to take over. As far as their colleagues were concerned they were best friends, but her belly kept giving little flip flops that had nothing to do with the chimp’s next step to adulthood and all with the woman who had dedicated her life to them. Even better, she knew that Luyinda felt the same way. “She knows she’s ready.”

They started the trek into the rain forest, following paths that had grown well-trodden since they began to take the young chimpanzees on these regular visits. It was still tough, especially with a no longer so small Eastern chimpanzee clinging to your back. Curious chimp fingers would occasionally reach up to poke at Irène’s hair, fascinated by the tight knots she twisted her thick black hair into in the morning. With great patience, she would move her fingers away time and again, lovingly chiding her, and distracting the bored chimp with tickles or quiet murmurs.

Luyinda went ahead, her steps sure and confident after climbing far tougher terrain in the remote Bili-Gangu region, and Irène admired her lithe figure, well-hidden as it was underneath the very sensible, sturdy clothes they wore.

On normal days, they would be going on this trip with a large group of workers and chimps, but today it was just the two of them, all their attention on Blue.

They were about two-thirds of the way, pausing to drink some water, when Luyinda asked, “Do you want me to take her?”

Irène shook her head. “It’s fine. I’m used to her weight.” Even though she had been getting heavier lately.

It didn’t take them much longer to reach the small clearing Blue liked best.

They sat down, just letting Blue wander around and explore. Today nobody would be stopping her from going up into the trees well beyond her caretaker’s reach.

They sat on the ground, both sipping more water and watching Blue, then more and more often watching another.

Out here, all the strife and dangers of the human world seemed impossibly far away. The shelter was already a small microcosm of its own, but out here in the forest… It was so easy to forget that the rest of the world existed at all.

Here, she reached for Luyinda’s hand and leaned slightly against her under the pretense of being exhausted.

“Look!” Irène’s voice shook with excitement, though she struggled to keep it to a whisper.

Blue was climbing the tree, still a little bit hesitant and clumsy, for it was far wider and taller than the trees in the group’s home at the shelter, but Irène could see her gain in confidence every time her long arms and strong feet found purchase.

“She’s doing wonderful,” she whispered, even as her heart raced with irrational fears. What if she panicked and fell? What if they couldn’t get her down again? What if she got spooked and disappeared into the forest, to become easy prey to predators?

When the chimps were released into the wild they received a radio transmitter, but Blue didn’t have one yet, she would grow some more before she could be released.

“Mother hen,” Luyinda whispered and nudged her side. “I know what you’re thinking.”

They exchanged a grin, Luyinda’s teasing, Irène’s sheepish, her face feeling hot at the teasing.

“She’s a chimpanzee. She knows what she’s doing. Have faith in her.”

“I do.”

While Irène was fretting, Blue had made it higher than she had been ever before, climbing the trees in the shelter. Luyinda started scribbling into her notebook, and Irène just watched the small chimpanzee explore her surroundings.

Blue’s first climb in the forest was anticlimactic, and all their hard work of preparing the orphaned apes had been geared towards ensuring it would be exactly as such for the chimp, but Irène still felt like she was overflowing with giddy pride.

Fortunately, she had the woman she most wanted to share it with right here by her side.

“Do you see how steady her grip is? And she isn’t frightened at all!” She kept her voice hushed, both to keep from spooking the chimpanzee and, well, because it was another good reason to lean in close.

They sat there in silence, both just enjoying the other’s closeness while time passed and Blue continued to explore the world around her.

Luyinda tucked the notebook back into her backpack and joined her in watching Blue. She looked so comfortable in it as if she had grown up in the wild.

“Look at her…” Her gaze turned to Irène; so much raw, open affection was shining in her eyes. “Look at you.” Her hand cupped her cheek, thumb rubbing gently over Iréne’s cheekbone. “Look at what you’ve achieved. This is all your work.”

Giddy pride over Blue mixed with a giddiness that had nothing to do with the apes, and everything with Luyinda. They’d been on dates, of a sort, trips into the forest that were just the apes and the two of them mostly, and there had been little touches, sweet hand-holding. They had never been quite as close as now, Luyinda had never cradled her cheek like now, never looked at her with so much raw longing…

Irène crossed what little distance separated them.

Their lips met and she sighed in something that felt so close to sheer relief. _Finally_.

The smells of nature filled her ears, mingling with the pounding of her own heart.

She lost herself in Luyinda’s taste and their sweet, tender first kiss, which soon gave way to a second one.

They didn’t break apart till a shriek from the tree made them look up again, and upon confirming Blue was doing alright, their eyes found the other’s again.

“Hey,” Irène said, grinning broadly, and then pressed a hand to her lips to stifle her laughter at her own silliness. Oh. She really couldn’t have been any more cliché.

“No. Don’t hide.” Luyinda looked embarrassed herself, but she wore that stubbornly determined face that Irène mostly knew from when she was arguing for the apes. “I like it when you laugh.”

“I… Thank you?” She ducked her head. Now she truly wanted to hide. Instead, she muttered, “Okay, and now I’ve reached a whole new level of awkwardness.”

Luyinda chuckled first, and Irène found herself caught up in her laughter.

Their nerves bled away, leaving only a feeling of contentment, and the giddy happiness of being here _together_.

“Think we should start luring her down yet?” Luyinda asked.

Iréne shook her head, still grinning. “I’ve got all day.”

Luyinda’s smile widened again. She hadn’t stopped smiling since their first kiss. “And so do I.”

High up in the tree, the little chimpanzee reached for another branch that would take her even higher.

Far below on the ground, Luyinda kissed Irène again.

After all, a day of firsts was a day to be savored.


End file.
